Conclusion

Over the past century and a half China has passed through three distinct phases in its response to the challenge posed by the West. These phases have been marked by three separate ‘packages’ of development strategies: ‘Westernization’ (whether a formal ‘movement’ or otherwise), ‘delinking and self-reliance’ and ‘reintegration’. These strategies have been as much the products of domestic and international circumstances as the subjective choices of the respective governments. They have to a large extent shaped domestic economic and social structures and, at the same time, owing to China’s size and its historical importance in East Asia, contributed to an East Asian regional development pattern.